The Chicago Circle campus represents the evolution of the University of Illinois Undergraduate Division first established in that city in 1946. Housed in leased facilities at the Municipal (Navy) Pier, the branch offered the first two years of college instruction to the area's increasing numbers of high school graduates and to veterans returned from World War II. In less than a decade, the Pier's consistently high enrollment had attested to the city's need for a larger facility, and for one that would enable students to complete work for the bachelor's degree. In May, 1953, a delegation of faculty, student and civic representatives petitioned the Board of Trustees for establishment of a four-year curriculum, and in February, 1961 a relocation site just south of the downtown district was approved based on its "...important plus factors of availability, accessibility and ... the opportunity to contribute to a civic development in Chicago of major importance." Circle expressed its autonomy from the parent institution through a number of changes effected: 1) seven months after the campus' February, 1965 opening an academic calendar was adopted that preferred the quarter to the semester system; 2) the campus' chief educational officer was newly created in the Dean of Faculties position in 1966; 3) that same year the all-University Office of Admissions and Records was reorganized to provide for a Director at each campus; and 4) in 1967 the title of campus Vice President was changed to Chancellor "...to expedite the increased volume of business." The first baccalaureate degrees were awarded in June, 1966, the first master's degrees were granted in thirteen areas the following year, and subsequent additions of master's and doctoral curricula brought the campus' offerings for advanced studies to a total of thirty-nine disciplines by the close of the seventies. Over the same period the institution developed an identity unique to its setting, fostered by the Trustees' approval of such programs as the Center for Urban Studies in 1966, and the establishment of ethnically-focused curricula reflecting Chicago's Black, Latin American, Native American and Slavic populations. In its thirteenth year the Circle expanded its outreach by initiating Program PM, a late afternoon/evening option for study at all levels.

Established at Navy Pier as the Chicago Undergraduate Division, the Chicago Circle campus is an integral part of the University and includes Colleges of Architecture and Art, Business Administration, Engineering and Liberal Arts and Sciences and Divisions of Education and Physical Education. In 1965, the University moved from Navy Pier to the new Chicago Circle Campus.

The Chancellor for the Chicago Circle campus is the chief executive officer. On June 1, 1946, the Trustees appointed a Dean of the Chicago Undergraduate Division. His title was changed to Executive Dean on September 1, 1957, Vice-President on January 1, 1961, and Chancellor of the Chicago Circle campus on September 1, 1966.

Description: Chicago Circle Studies, a journal designed "to focus attention upon and to provide an additional outlet for ... scholars located in the Chicago campus," including articles by non-Circle faculty are also published.ÃÂ Issues may be devoted to articles on a single theme, e.g. Volume 3, number 2 focuses on Communications.